Pakistan and Austria pledged to strengthen bilateral cooperation across trade, investment, education, and other key sectors on Monday. The announcement followed delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Austrian Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker in Vienna. Both countries agreed to expedite MoUs covering economic, IT, healthcare, tourism, and human resource development.
During the talks, leaders highlighted the historic friendship and exchanged views on global and regional developments. They reaffirmed support for the United Nations and multilateral approaches to peace, sustainable development, climate action, and human rights. The meeting emphasized mutual commitment to international collaboration and joint support for each other’s UN candidatures.
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Shehbaz and Stocker co-chaired a forum of CEOs from Pakistani and Austrian companies active in renewable energy, industrial manufacturing, IT, textiles, healthcare, tourism, and agro-industries. Both sides agreed to expand government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B), and business-to-business (B2B) engagements using existing platforms.
The Pakistani prime minister invited Austrian businesses to participate in the upcoming EU-Pakistan Business Forum in Islamabad this April. He thanked Chancellor Stocker for productive discussions and extended an invitation for an official visit to Pakistan at the earliest convenience.
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The visit began with a ceremonial welcome, including a guard of honour and the playing of national anthems. Leaders introduced their delegations before holding restricted and delegation-level talks aimed at boosting trade, investment, and educational partnerships.